Philip Hodgetts’ unique blend of business and production knowledge gives him insight into the current state of the industry, and a remarkably accurate look forward. Here he shares his thinking, and points to articles of interest from other sites, with context as to why they're interesting.

Conquering the metadata foundations of Final Cut Pro X

If you’ve been using Final Cut Pro for awhile the idea of metadata may have slipped past you. Plenty of other software like Aperture, Premiere Pro, and even Final Cut Server, use metadata extensively, but Final Cut Pro 7 and earlier? Not so much.

That’s going to change… Final Cut Pro X is not just a complete rewrite – it’s a rethink of how modern non-linear editing software meets the needs of editors. And part of that rethinking is relying heavily on metadata as a foundation for organizing media in Final Cut Pro X. (And here’s my blog post explaining why.)

This book was written to help you get up to speed quickly. It briefly takes you through the benefits of metadata (and how you’ve already been using it without realizing!) before focussing on the practical uses of metadata in Final Cut Pro X.

use keyboard shortcuts, tips and tricks to do this much faster than logging in Final Cut Pro 7

The second part provides deeper background on the types of metadata used in production and postproduction, and considers the “mundane” and “magic” future of metadata beyond what’s available now in Final Cut Pro X. The mundane side is all the media tracking work, and the magic side is what we get when we put metadata to work for us.

Written by Philip Hodgetts, an expert and technologist in digital production and metadata-based post-production workflows. Philip applies his 10 years of metadata experience to the brand new Final Cut Pro X. A must for anyone wanting to conquer the challenge of Final Cut Pro X’s new metadata concepts.